Perfect! Exactly what I wanted to know. So you "map" it (like a topographic contour line map)and then cut along the lines... How much of a bite do you take with the router, and what type of bit do you use? Once again, nice work and thanks for letting us pick your brain!

I will post some pics later of another I did.

A while back I used some scrap and showed how to carve a top and do a burst finish using a router, a pencil and $6 of dye from Wal-Mart.

It's really simple.

Hey Noah, It may just be me, but I am looking at this with a G5 Power Mac loaded and all I see for pictures is "Photo bucket" bandwidth exceeded" Do you see the same? I used to see the pictures, but not here....

OK - so the neck is finally ready and I can show what I'm doing on the tenon side of things.

Here is a regular pic to show the tenon and body:



Here is the neck test fitted into the body:



This is important - Like Ed Roman says, you should be able to lift the body without the angle changing - look at where the fretboard meets to body.

This angle is the same in both pics (suspended and lying flat). The neck fits perfectly - this takes more time to do but hopefully it will be worth it.





Still working on the heel/joint, but it's coming along:



Some shots of the top. Almost done sanding, maybe another hour to go. Just wiped with some mineral spirits. Not popped out the grain yet.





This pic shows how much longer the tenon is then a regular PRS - more expensive to do but I don't cut corners.

Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice!

Thanks DP!

I am now working on the clear faux "binding" on the side of this build.

I decided to use Minwax brushing lacquer to do this because it was easier then spraying.

Final sanding complete to 2000



This is a major PITA but you want to tape everything super perfect. 20 extra minutes here is well worth it. With any kind of finish work the prep is what matters - no matter if you're painting cars, guitars or your house.



Ready to go:



Drying:

Now things are really getting interesting.

I am now using different shades of stain to really add some shimmer to this guitar. Now the grain looks to be about 6 different shades of blue depending on your viewing angle and really looks like an expensive piece of wood - remember that this started out as a mediocre $10.00 piece of maple!

The back/sides are really getting a glow that I like as well.

I'm not trying to be redundant with the pics - just trying to show how each step in the finishing process gets you closer - it's all about prep/time/detail.

Again - there is no clear on this body/neck as of yet.

A beauty.

Did you make the neck too?

Yhea, really well done. I probably wouldn't opt for the blue(the only blue guitar I've ever owned was a light powder blue which I didn't mind too much) color personally, but other than that it's looking pretty sweet!!! Also, I'm a little surprised to see the volute on the neck/headstock. Did you do this to be faithful to the PRS design or do you prefer the volute for headstock strength?

Thanks!

Yes, I made the neck as well.

I don't care for blue either - but I have seen a bunch of blue PRS so it kind of made sense, plus I wanted to do something different.

After repairing more then a few headstocks over the years I am a fan of the volute!